Tron Legacy: Second Generation
by PenFreak10
Summary: When Tara goes into her grandfather's old arcade, her secret hideout, she finds something different than usual: a conspicuous light; a light where it shouldn't be. Unconsciousness, and the next thing she knows, Tara's on the Grid. And she may never get back.
1. Entrance

Chapter 1: Entrance

"No! I can't believe you just did that!"

Tara's brother, Sam, was almost weeping as she dominated him in the video game. They pushed and shoved, eyes glued to the bright television screen. Tara laughed, belittling him.

"I told you I would kick your butt! Pffft. And _you_ said I sucked. Ha-ha!"

The screen read: "GAME-OVER". Sam cried out in unbelievable rage.

"You totally cheated!"

Tara laughed. "I don't think so, little bro. You owe me five bucks. Hand it over."

She stuck out her hand, palm up. "Come on. You know you said it."

Sam sneered. "Yeah, but I didn't say _when_."

Tara growled. "I will bust you in the head with this Wii remote if you don't hand over the cash."

Tara raised the game control over her head menacingly. Sam sighed and rolled his eyes as he dug his hand in his pocket. He fished out a crumpled five dollar bill and tossed it to Tara with crushed spirits. Tara quickly retrieved the money and giggled in triumph. Her brother walked off and she called after him, "Wanna play again?"

She heard her brother's stomps as he climbed up the stairs and said, "_NO!_"

She smiled as the door to his room slammed shut. Tara glanced at her prize and dug it into her pocket. She giggled one last time before continuing with the game by herself.

Tron looked at Calchas. "We need her. She's important. If the programs take over this world, they'll find a way to dominate her world. Her father has done it before _and_ has been able to close the portal. She's the last Iso, even though she's half User. We need her Calchas."

Calchas looked a little dubious. "Yes, but she seems incapable of learning all the techniques in time. What if she doesn't have all that she needs to survive without us assisting her all the way? You know we can't draw suspicions to ourselves, Tron."

Tron sighed in impatience. "Look, we'll draw her in tomorrow at the old arcade she always goes to after her learning sessions. If she doesn't seem to be able to comply with our standards then we'll look for someone else. Simple as that. But, still, I believe we have found her."

Calchas stared Tron down. Tron sighed. "As long as we keep her away from Zeus, she should be fine."

Calchas rolled his eyes. "Oh yes. Like _that_ won't be a problem anyway."

Tron said, "We'll have someone assist her on the way."

Tara walked home, as always, alone.

She thought about her stupid math teacher. She gave homework over the weekend. The _weekend!_ What was _wrong_ with this teacher? She sighed. _Well, it's not like I was going to do anything better than video games._ Then she berated herself. She just defied every code that had been made for gaming. A true gamer did not label video games as worthless. In contrast, they put them as a priority.

Surprisingly, when she got home, her mom and dad were there. Of course, they were arguing, though.

"Look, Quorra, it's gone! All of the money we have has been paid to the bills! We can't afford something like this!"

That was her father.

"Sam, I know we are in a very tight..._situation_, but, we have to pay for it or else..."

Her mother lowered her voice.

Tara rolled her eyes. Typical.

Right now, she could say anything she wanted. And, in fact, she did.

"Hey Mom and Dad."

No greeting back.

"Oh, I had a _great_ time at school today, thanks for asking."

She walked right passed them saying, "Can I have a cookie before dinner?"

No one replied. "Thanks Mom for your _caring_ consent."

Tara walked out of the kitchen, grabbed her father's wallet and took out ten bucks, replacing the five she had won from her brother with it, saying, "Hey Dad, can I borrow ten bucks? I'll pay you back the other five later."

Her dad said nothing.

"Thanks."

She took a bite of her cookie and said as she opened the front door, "I'll be going now. Bye!"

She shut the door and started walking to the old arcade on Grand Avenue. Of course, it was a pretty short walk, but, them not knowing she was going to be there suited her fine. Let them worry about her for a few hours. They deserve it. For all that they've done to her? They deserve two _days_ of absence.

She shrugged and turned the corner, thinking to herself: _Well, that's an option, but maybe not a good one._

She licked her fingers of the melted chocolate from the cookie and looked up at the sign. It read: "FLYNN'S." Her dad had said that the arcade was her grandfather's. He had unfortunately died from a heart attack, as he had told her five years ago. But, she sensed some untruthfulness there because her mother had started to cry in front of her.

Her mother had said that she never knew her dad's father.

Tara walked into the broken glass door. It was vandalized last week by some really weird gang of drunken teenagers. She thought: _Huh. I should vandalize their faces for doing this._

Tara's shoes crunched over the broken glass and she looked around her as she pulled her other foot in. There was something unusual about it. Well, it was naturally creepy and dark, but, there was something..._off_. Something _different_. Then she realized it. There was a light coming from the back. Tara ducked behind an old arcade machine as her heart raced. Was it a thief? A mugger? A _murderer_?

She slowly crept up toward the light, which cast a weird-shaped shadow onto the wall. She picked up a lone metal crowbar from the ground and raised it above her head just as she turned the corner. She brought it down with impacting speed.

It hit the floor.

She looked confused, as tile spurted everywhere.

The light was coming from the game. Tara looked around her. And no one was here. She let herself relax and walked toward the bright screen. As she looked at it, it wasn't coming from the game. It was coming from _behind_ it. She shoved the boxy game aside and stared at the little light there. There was a whole other room hidden by the game. She pushed away hanging plaster and stared into the little light. There was a red pulsating button that seemed to call to her.

In curiosity, she pressed it.

Tara saw nothing but darkness. Until she blinked.

Then everything was lit up like an electronic gaming device. She looked around. There were lights _everywhere_. And as her mind got clearer, there was a city off in the distance. Well, it _looked_ like a city. There were strange shapes for buildings, but, none of the less, they were buildings. So she headed in that direction. As she walked, she realized that the floor beneath her was black. She bent to touch it.

It felt like...

It felt like a...

As she was about to figure out the material, a floating object was coming towards her. It was shaped like a square without the bottom line on it, and the edges seemed to be lit up with an orange light. As it got closer, she realized there were people on it.

_Glowing_ people.

They were dressed in a black-as-night garb lined with yellow lights. There were presumable guards on the platform about forty feet up that held something like spears—glowing spears—with glowing orange lights. There were also people wearing clothes that were not glowing. Tara sighed with relief. _Yes_, she thought, _regular people_. But, they were wearing rags.

And they looked nervous and scared.

The object stopped in front of her and a man with a yellow suit with a cape stood on a single platform that descended down to her—kind of like an elevator. The man pointed to her and the guards walked over.

The people in rags were yelling at her. "Run away!"

She seemed scared and actually started to, when the guards grabbed hold of her and said, "Oh no you don't."

They laughed as she squirmed. But, then, she stopped. They had her. The only thing to do was to act dumb and let them size her up as a weakling. She had to masquerade her true identity. Tara was a tomboy so her guy shorts and jacket were her allies in her secretive plan. She had her hood up, which hid her hair well.

The man said, "Put him with the others. He seems well built. Actually, put him in one of the first ones to go."

Tara suddenly felt scared. _First ones to go?_

Whatever that meant, Tara was pretty sure she wasn't going to like it.

Tara tried to be quiet in the line. If she was inquisitive directly to the guards, they might just kill her. However, she had tried, many, many times to ask one of the other rag-people, but they ignored her every time she made eye contact. So she just gave up and started paying close attention to where they were going.

Actually, they were headed toward the city. And just as she thought she could taste freedom, they made a sharp turn into a tunnel. The speed picked up then and the lights from the tunnel blurred past them as they whizzed by.

The object abruptly stopped and the man with the cape started choosing men by pointing at them. Those chosen screamed and were dragged away. Tara watched one man try to fight and get away, when he was knocked out and dragged into the darkness.

She gulped and prayed that she was not picked.

And when she opened her eyes, the man's finger was in her face.

She was chosen.

The guards started to grab her when she hit their hands and followed proudly behind them. The men in the rags were shocked to see such pride and honor in a young "boy" and they felt disgraced and ashamed.

_At least, if I go out, I go out with dignity_, she thought.

They turned their heads every few seconds to make sure she was behind them, thinking she would escape. But Tara was not one to cowardly run away. If she had to, she would run away _with style_. And now was not the time, she felt, to run away. In fact, Tara was quite curious as to what was going on.

She knew it was bad, but, how bad could it _really_ be?

If they wanted her dead, they would've done so on the floating object.

Kidnap and torture?

No. If they wanted that, then would have found transportation less conspicuous.

So, see, she was, indeed, curious.

They left her in the middle of this dimly lighted room. Tara looked around for a minute, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkened confinement. Then a sound as if a release of air pressure was going on around her and she heard a few clicks in unison.

Like, _high heel_ clicks.

Out of four cupboards came four women, marching in unison, from every corner. They wore white suits with white lights. Their hair was colored in the same way, and they seemed to be robots. But, _human_ in some strange way.

One of them held up her index finger and a bright light positioned itself on the tip. She started to slide it down her shirt when Tara hit her hand out of the way. She seemed surprised.

Tara said, disguising her girl voice, "I'd rather you just give me the clothes you put on and I'll undress myself."

She tilted her head as in shock and confusion of Tara's straightforwardness. The White Lady nodded keenly and stood back. Something crawled up Tara's leg and when she looked down, something, a black something, seemed to go up her body and form around every curve and straight. It was a suit. With awesome white lights.

_I bet I look ridiculous with the suit and all my other clothes on top_, Tara thought. She took of her shirt and shorts and underwear, watching them get sucked into this hole, but kept her jacket on. This was her favorite jacket. She wasn't about to let it go.

The White Ladies roughly lifted her jacket. Tara quickly put her jacket over her head, keen to try to hide her hair and chest. A robotic speaker was saying something as one of the White Ladies was doing something from behind her.

It said: "Attention Program: you will receive an Identity Disk. Everything you do or learn will be imprinted on this disc. If you lose your disc, or fail to follow commands, you will be subject to immediate derezzelution."

The White Lady on her left corner said in a robotic voice, "Marrying complete. Disc activated and synchronized. Proceed to Games."

Tara looked astonished and confused. "Games?"

Then they all marched backwards to their cupboards. The White Lady who spoke was the last one to leave.

Tara asked her, "What am I supposed to do?"

She answered, "Survive."

Then she went into her cupboard.

Next thing Tara knew, she was in the bright lights where a huge audience was waiting, screaming and shouting and cheering. She had realized that there was a type of helmet thing that retracted and came whenever there was the word "fight". She was fiddling with it now, trying to get more air in there.

She didn't know where she was, but she was pretty sure this was the "Games" that Lady was referring to. At the thought, Tara shivered. That last time she heard "Games" it was about gladiators sticking sharp pointy objects into people's heads.

Not a good thought.

Tara wished she was at home now. Playing a game, not playing for life. Well, playing for _fake_ lives, not her real one.

She brought in a position perpendicular to this man with a weird helmet on and a cape. She had officially dubbed him "Weird Cape Guy". She liked that. WCG. She smiled. The man, WCG, glared at her, and she frowned instantly.

WCG turned to the crowds and spoke through his helmet. "Welcome to the Tron Games!" The crowd cheered.

_The what?_ Tara thought.

He continued, "As you've all been waiting for, we have our only beloved: The Rinzler!"

The crowd screamed in encouragement and excitement.

Tara got sick to her stomach.

From a float above, stairs formulated themselves to the bottom of the grid. A foot stepped out and the crowd went berserk. As the man stepped down, Tara could see he had a darkly tinted helmet that went along with his black suit and orange-lighted traces. As he walked on the grid, he was put on a screen above and showed glimpse of the wild crowd cheering for him.

Tara immediately saw him as the enemy and quickly took in every stride and pride with boiling anger. Is this what she was here for? To fight this guy for entertainment? And what was _he_ supposed be, anyway? Freaking Mardi-Gras Batman without a cape?

She was kidnapped, almost stripped nude, and had been uninformed the entire time. This was not going to be a good day for this guy.

WCG came with a box over to her seeming opponent and he picked a black stick about one foot long with a circle integrated in the middle. It looked weird. When WCG came over to her, there was one left. She picked it up hesitantly and felt around with it, picking a fighting stance.

She asked in her guy voice, "What am I supposed to do with this?"

He looked at her in annoyance and said, "I'll give you a hint: not that."

The crowd laughed, and Tara stood erect and gave the man one of her "Oh-No-You-_Di-in't_" looks. WCG just turned away from her. She stared at her opponent. He seemed to stare at her back. As WCG gave a speech to the crowd, she never took her eyes off him.

He was going down.

Unexpectedly, her new nemesis turned around and walked in the other direction. Then Tara heard a noise behind her so she turned around. Five men in white light suits like her stood in a line, facing her. Then out of no where, six orange-lighted motorcycles drove between them. By now, Tara kind of understood what was going on, but still not sure what was the point. Maybe some type of race.

The men in her so-called "team" started to run away from her, jumped and pulled the stick in half. And, right in front of her eyes, Tara saw a motorcycle formulate under each of the guys. She smiled.

_Thank you, dirt bike camp,_ Tara thought.

She copied her teammates. Run. Jump. Pull...

She did a wheelie as she tried to catch up to her teammates. They all gave her looks and they separated from each other. Tara was confused and couldn't keep her attention focused on all of them. She kept it on one.

Her teammate was somehow below her, she guessed on another level. He was met with opposition by an enemy light cycle. The enemy bumped into her teammate, spooking him. Then he zoomed up and did a sharp ninety degree angle turn. Her teammate screamed before smashing into the light trail of his opponent.

He turned into shards of glass, his light cycle following him.

Tara gasped. This was to the death.

This was gladiator style.

Tara felt angry. How could they treat people like this?!

They wanted a fight? Oh, they'll get one!

Tara didn't know how many of her teammates were left, but she knew she would be one of them. She went below to the vacant lower levels and tried to sight the next victim. She spotted him.

_He_ was looking for _his_ next victim.

She smirked maliciously and revved up off the ramp, flying over him, before doing a sharp turn.

The orange guy was now orange mush.

Tara smiled. Then frowned.

Guilt wormed its way into her.

She just took a life.

_Just a game, Tara. Keep it together. It's just a game_, she thought reassuringly to herself.

She then spotted another death of another teammate. But then, another teammate came up behind the enemy and killed him off quick. She sighed in relief. Good. Someone who knew what he was doing. A survivor. Like her.

She drove over to him and said through her helmet, "We have to stick together."

He looked hesitant, but nodded. They spotted a lone enemy, looking for his teammate. Tara's new friend nodded and they came up with a quick, precise plan.

Tara went backwards and began to circle around towards the enemy. Her teammate went beside the orange guy and bumped him roughly. The enemy sneered when, suddenly, his opponent just banked left and went away.

That was random.

Tara zoomed by, causing him to smash right into her light trail. A brief scream emanated from him and Tara tried to ignore it. She went beside her teammate and they exchanged glances, smiling at each other.

Then, in a blink of an eye, No-Cape-Batman came by and slashed at her teammate's cycle. He wobbled before crashing into the boundary wall, spraying shards of his body into the audience.

They cheered.

_Sick monkeys_, Tara thought as she looked disgustingly at the crowd.

Then she faced her opponent. She suspected that they were the last two. Those five men that were alive just a minute ago? All dead.

Shows how valuable a minute can be.

Tara glanced at something in his hand. It was...It was a disc. Those discs that she had seen on her teammates backs! Did she have one?

_Attention Program: You will receive an Identity Disc. Everything you do or learn will be imprinted..._

Before she could think, Rinzler came and slashed at her bike. She flew off and rolled until she ceased on her back. Tara knew she was going to have some bruises, but ignored them as she watched her opponent start to turn around. She stood up and carried on her thoughts about the discs.

Tara reached at her back. There it was. It came off at her touch and she put it in front of her. It seemed, to her, that it was..._inactive_. She tried to hit it with her hand. Her opponent zoomed by her, trying to spook her out. She hit it harder, squeezing with anxiety. It sparked to life, making a glow of light around the ring as if it were a blade.

Tara looked up to find her opponent turning around, disc in hand, and coming at her, ready for his kill.

She got in a stance.

He would get no kill.

And just as she was ready to deflect and hit, a car raced onto the grid and jumped out in front of her opponent. He braked and then he hit the light trail, making him fly over a hundred yards away. Tara frowned. He wasn't dead.

The door to the car lifted up. The stranger inside said, "Get in."

Tara hesitated, taking a glance at her former opponent who was now getting up, and then quickly got in the car. The door lifted down and the stranger started to drive on out of the arena and into the darker parts of the Grid.

Behind them were yellow pursuers on light cycles, eager to obey their malicious boss and capture the boy at the Games. Tara looked back in anxiety. They were gaining on them.

The stranger said, giving a calm gesture, "Relax, Program; I'll outrun them."

Tara shouted, "Both hands on the wheel!"

The stranger laughed and obeyed.

The stranger made a sharp turn and cut off one yellow guard. There was a jump up ahead and it was a pretty large distance to cover. They went straight toward it.

Tara got scared. "No! No! No! We won't make it!"

They jumped it without a problem. The stranger said, "Made it."

Tara scowled at him (knowing that this humor was pretty much a guy's) without much sound. The guards didn't pursue them any farther and stared at them as they sped onward.

Tara made a sigh of relief.

She was finally free.

Free of death. Free of White Ladies.

And, most importantly, free of weird people.

She turned to the stranger. Well, not quite.

She asked, "So, who are you?"

He retracted his helmet to reveal chestnut hair and hazel-green eyes. He gave a swift look before going back to the road.

"My name's Zinc. And, you should probably get rid of that...clothing you wear. It could cause suspicion."

Tara didn't move.

Zinc seemed persuasive. "C'mon! You're with me now. You can relax. Take off the..._whatever that is_...and your helmet and we'll all be fine, Program."

He clapped his hand on her shoulder.

_I am NOT a PROGRAM!_ Tara thought.

But Tara obeyed, out of respect for him saving her life.

She slowly took off her jacket and, with a wince, retracted her helmet.

Zinc did a double take. "You're a _girl_?"

Tara rolled her eyes. "No, I'm a monkey. _Yes I'm a girl!_"

Zinc asked, "What's a monkey?"

Tara raised her eyebrow. "Haven't you got a zoo here?"

Zinc looked more confused. "What's a zoo?"

Tara shook her head. "You have some serious issues, dude."

Zinc became frustrated. "My name is not Dude. I already told you: it's Zinc!"

Tara sighed. "Just shut up and drive."

He raised an eyebrow. "Okay Miss Snooty-Pants."

Tara rolled her eyes again. It got quiet for a moment and it was a little uncomfortable. And she could tell Zinc was itching to know about her for some odd reason.

He asked, "So what's _your_ name? I told you mine. Return the favor."

Tara looked warily at him. "Zorah."

Zinc laughed. "No, you're not Zorah. I _know_ a Zorah, and you are _definitely_ not him."

Tara laughed. "That's a guy's name? Ha! Ah, I feel sorry for that guy."

Zinc looked determined. "So what is your name? You still haven't answered me."

Tara looked at him once again.

He _did_ save her life.

She sighed. "My name's Tara. Tara Flynn."


	2. Tron's Dojo

Chapter 2: Tron's Dojo

Zinc suddenly braked, causing Tara to hit her head where an airbag should've been. She grimaced and started to go into an insulting rant when he interrupted her.

He said, "_Flynn?_ You're a _Flynn?_"

Tara was furious, clutching at her pulsating head and seethed, "_Yes_."

"Wow! A Flynn! An _actual_ Flynn!" He laughed and turned to Tara, "I'm sorry I acted rudely earlier. Wow. This is...this is grid-tastic!"

Tara ignored his strange terminology and asked out of curiosity, "Why did you help me? In the Games?"

Zinc shrugged. "I don't know. He only told me to—"

Tara leaned forward in menace. "_He?_ Who is "_he_"?"

Zinc looked nervous and shrunk back a little. "Well, he's...well, I'll take you to him. I can't really explain yet."

Tara raised an eyebrow.

Zinc gave a bashful grin. "What can I say? Just following the Boss' orders."

Tara rolled her eyes and said, "Fine, but when you—"

Zinc sped up the car and she jerked backward. Zinc laughed at her as he turned the wheel to go with the curves of the road. Tara growled and continued with the conversation.

"So, why is a "_Flynn_" so important?"

He explained, "Well, I don't know if you know this, or if this is even true, but—"

The car suddenly flipped over the tumbled along the narrow road. Tara screamed while Zinc held onto the wheel in panic. Then the tumbling stopped and the car seemed to totter. Tara unfortunately looked down to find that her part of the car was hanging over a cliff, both doors ajar. Tara felt tears come in her eyes. Zinc seemed to be unconscious and she didn't want to stay there, hanging over the cliff for eternity.

She saw that there was a light cycle stick strapped to Zinc's waistband. She reached slowly over and grabbed it from him. She took a deep breath, her hands getting sweaty from anxiety.

_One. Two. Three..._

She shoved Zinc out of the car and jumped as she pulled the stick in half. She landed on the light cycle and turned sharply to watch as the light car fell off the cliff.

She didn't even hear it hit the ground.

As her chest heaved from leftover adrenaline, she turned her attention to Zinc. He was lying on the ground, still unconscious. She sighed and heaved him onto the light cycle with her. She put him in front so he wouldn't fly off when she revved. She felt awkward in the position, but knew that he would thank her later for it.

Tara revved once and pulled her foot up from the ground and onto the foot peddle. She felt the wind drive her hair back as she looked forward, making sure that the road didn't surprise her by sharply turning. Time went on and it began to get dark in the sky. However, she realized that there was no sunset. In fact, there was no sun.

_I wonder why I didn't notice that before_, she thought.

Suddenly, she saw a flash of green and she had to swerve in order not to bump the green insect-looking object and fly over the cliff. The insect looked at her and made a shrill series of clicks and movements before scuttling off into the darkness.

Tara made a sighed of relief and started to continue her journey when she heard more clicks seeming to emanate from the dark unknown itself. She gripped the handles of the light cycle with anxiety.

Out of no where, something jumped at her. She ducked in time to see it land roughly on the other side. The clicks and hisses got louder and Tara knew she was in trouble. She reached over her back rapidly, remembering she had a weapon, and squeezed the light disc, activating its "blade".

Then they attacked.

It seems as though they came all at once. Left and right, right and left was the rhythm she moved to. She slashed everything in her path of sight and became fearful when she realized they were going to overwhelm her.

_This would be a really good time to wake up, Zinc,_ she thought as she looked over at her companion. Then she sighted his light disc. She grabbed it from his back and clicked it on. She got into a fighting stance and slashed with her new weapon.

In the light of the defense, she heard thunder above. Lightening struck the ground that was covered with the insects. Out of sixth sense, she raised her light disc above her head, catching a lightening bolt onto the disc and lit the insects with the directed lightening.

The grid lit with the unexpected charge of electricity and scared the insects away from her. They scattered back into the dark, leaving the dangerous young girl who heaved from the battle.

Sweat rolled down from her brow. The insects not only came and jumped on her, but they slashed at her clothing, creating tears along her legs and arms. She was a little bloodied, but not quite drooping.

Tara felt sudden fatigue and weariness, her eyelids drooping in premature sleep. She then fell into a heap onto the grid, closing her eyes as unconsciousness subjugated her will to stay awake.

Tara awoke to a lighted sky. _Though, without a sun_, she remembered.

Her head ached and she was slowly gaining her memory from last night's dilemma.

Swerve.

Bugs.

Fight.

Lightening.

Unconscious.

She groaned. She didn't want to be here with Zinc all alone. It was bad enough he didn't know what the heck a monkey was.

"Seems as though you stole my light disc, Little Flynn."

She knew it was Zinc and decided not to give a mean remark.

She asked, "Where are we?"

Zinc snorted. "Well, thanks to you, no where now."

Tara shot up and poked his chest with her finger. "Hold up. I saved your life, you idiot! And if you think I'm going take this from you after what I had to do to make sure your sorry butt was fine, you better think again!"

Tara had taken step after step with every sentence, pushing Zinc closer to the edge of the cliff. He looked down at the dark chasm below and gulped nervously.

"Well, look. I'm sorry. Thank you for saving my life."

"Now thank me again," said Tara haughtily.

Zinc had to stop himself from rolling his eyes before saying, "Thank you for saving my life."

Tara walked away. "Your welcome. For _both_ of the times I saved your life."

Zinc rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue at her back.

Tara said, "I see you."

He looked frightened and Tara laughed. "You're so predictable, you know that?"

Zinc looked indignant. "I beg to differ."

Tara smiled. "Okay, Mr. Snooty-Pants. Let's get on the road again and meet your mysterious boss."

Zinc smiled at her comeback and outstretched his hand to her. She smiled and raised both her eyebrows twice before handing him the light cycle stick. Zinc jumped and pulled the stick in half. He turned and waited for Tara to get on. Zinc felt embarrassed as he saw her clasp her arms around his chest. He's never been this close to a girl before, let alone a _User_ girl. A User _Flynn_ girl.

He wondered about her for a moment.

If she was the Great Sam Flynn's daughter, then who was her mother?

He clicked his helmet on as Tara did the same and asked through the helmet com:

"So, if your dad is Sam Flynn, then who is your mother? Is she a User also?"

Tara nodded. "Yeah. But she has the weirdest name. I mean, it's pretty, but it sounds weird for a name."

Zinc said, "Let me guess. Roki?"

Tara laughed. "Not even close. What kind of name is _that_? Sounds like some screwed up Nike shoe or something."

Zinc shrugged. "Although I have no idea what a Nike is, Roki is like that, same here: it is pretty, but it is strange in our society."

Tara shrugged and said, "Well, I guess _here_ it is pretty. Where I'm from, that sounds like someone up-chucking."

Tara made a retching sound while implanting the name into it, coughing at the end. Zinc laughed and commented.

"Your humor is very beguiling, yet crude in so many ways."

Tara laughed at his speech, of which died down into the silence between them. Tara gripped tighter to him as he made a sharp turn, almost falling off the cliff. Zinc felt his cheeks get hot. He didn't notice that he almost killed them.

He asked, "So, what's your mother's name?"

"Quorra," she answered plainly.

He stopped the light cycle abruptly and turned to look at her. "What?"

She repeated clearly, "Quorra."

Zinc gagged in incredulity. Quorra? _The_ Quorra?

Tara looked at him strangely. "Are you okay?"

He turned to face her directly. "Quorra was the last Iso thirteen years ago. They were the first organisms to come out of the Sea of Simulation that taught The Creator, _your grandfather_, plans on how to make Standards."

As Zinc explained it, he realized something.

He tore down her sleeve on her left arm.

"Hey!" Tara yelled.

There was the insignia. The extraordinary mark of an Iso.

He gasped as he stared at it. He touched it as if it was a precious old piece of glass that would break with the slightest bit of pressure.

He whispered, "You're an Iso."

Tara looked at him as if he was crazy. "It's a birthmark! What the heck is wrong with you?"

Zinc looked up at her. "You're one of the last of them. Tara, you can show us how to reconstruct. It's in your DNA."

He moved closer to her as he spoke, grabbing her arms and shaking her, as if doing so would maker her understand. But Tara was a little freaked out. First she was eating a cookie, and now she was the freaking "Chosen One".

What was _wrong_ with this place?

Then a nuclear thought blew up in her head.

Her mother had lied to her_._

She had said she came from Massachusetts.

_Wrong_.

She had said she didn't know Tara's grandfather.

_Wrong_.

She had said she met her father at a local bar.

_Wrong_.

She had said the insignia was nothing but a strange birthmark.

_Wrong_.

Zinc stared at Tara and his excitement died as her face became dark with anger. She gritted her teeth and came out of her trance. She looked him square in the eye and said, "Take me to your Boss. I believe we have much to discuss."

Zinc silently nodded and turned back to the light cycle. He was sure this was going to be a long silent trip with her like that. But he obeyed out of respect and fear of her wrath. Unbeknownst to Tara, Zinc had seen her display of skill with the lightening just before she was unconscious. That was something only a Flynn could accomplish.

So he revved and put on his helmet.

Tara left hers off, thinking about the many things that were now lies as she held onto Zinc and laid her head on his back. She didn't hear a heartbeat.

So he really _was_ just a Program.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Although no heart, he did have heat and that was something she clung to as the cold weather of midnight descended on them like rain.

"Where's Tara?"

She didn't even speak.

Sam rolled his eyes. _Of course_ she wouldn't answer. Half the time, she didn't even know where she was. And plus, he already knew where she was—at her "secret" hideout. Her own escape. Sam didn't have one, and that was why half the time he was jealous of his sister. She had a place to go away to when Mom and Dad were arguing over pointless things. His father was naturally loud and his mother was soft spoken, so half the time his mom would end up crying and his dad would walk out, too frustrated to even console her.

Sam would normally go up to his mother and hug her and try to help soothe her ache, but he had grown out of it. Eventually, she would just stop crying by herself and they would make up. Nothing to it. Dad loved Mom too much to just let her go. He had always said there was something special about her. Sam didn't know what he was talking about. Mom was just weird. She didn't know what _anything_ was. A street down the block was something new to her because she never went outside, on the excuse that it was too dangerous for her.

Sam scoffed at that as he thought it.

So, _he_ was told to go outside and get his exercise while his _mother_ was told to stay inside to be kept safe from the world out there. That's messed up.

But, he learned to live with it.

Sooner or later, Tara would come back and then they'd both go out to the new bowling alley that opened two weeks ago. He was excited for that. He just lost five bucks and she was going to treat him for it. A nice gain of profit.

He couldn't wait for Tara to get home.

Tara was dead beaten.

They'd been on the road for more than three hours without letups or stretches. It was like she was glued to Zinc now. Her back was aching. Her knees hurt and ached. Her neck was beginning to rant about the constant position. Oh, and not to mention that she had to go pee. Wherever Programs went, she needed to get to one _now_.

But Zinc didn't seem to mind.

He just kept glancing back at her as if she was some valuable prize. Huh. He was probably going to get a raise for bringing back the last "Iso" safe from harm. And then she'd go on ahead and say that she had to save his life twice and he almost killed her by doing the sharpest turn in history. Oh yeah. Feel the burn.

So as soon as they stopped, she fell onto the floor into unconsciousness. Not only was she tired from riding, but still tired from the incident with those..._insects._ During her sleep, Zinc had managed to catch her before her fall. He carried her to his Boss, nodding with acknowledgement and waited for his review.

He looked at Tara. Then back at him. "Good work, Z. Very nice. I suspect that she's not dead?"

Zinc smiled. "Yeah, she's alive. She's just tired. She made a connection with the Grid."

He looked at him in surprise. "What?"

Zinc nodded. "Yeah, she redirected lightening **(Hey, anybody know where that phrase is from?)** and made a connection to the Grid. She made the Creepers scatter. It was amazing."

His Boss nodded, impressed. "So maybe we did pick the right one."

"And look," said Zinc, pulling down her sleeve, "She's an Iso."

The glowing insignia caught his Boss's eye. He leaned in to inspect it with shock and curiosity. "Oh my," was all he could say. He touched it softly, just as Zinc did.

Tara groaned, still asleep, and squirmed so that she squished herself into Zinc's chest. He felt his cheeks burn again.

His Boss looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

Zinc flustered. "It's nothing like that."

His Boss laughed and said, "I didn't say anything."

Zinc's face became red with embarrassment. His Boss clapped a hand to Zinc's shoulder and whispered, "Just be careful. Users are known to be..._independent_ and..._raucous_."

Zinc looked at Tara. _Yup_, he thought.

Calchas gestured to an entrance to the left. "Take her over to Room 17. And...make sure she gets new clothes and a new disc. We don't want Trikon to know where she is."

Zinc nodded and carried her in obedience. He laid her down on the bed and asked for the Caregiver to give her some clothes. She had just simply nodded and done what she was asked. When the door closed, he looked at Tara.

She was light brown skinned; golden in a certain light. Her dark brown hair cascaded down her back and stuck to her neck. Her eyelashes waved at him while he heard her breath slowly go in and out. But, it wasn't attraction that made him want to stay.

It was curiosity.

Zinc had never seen a User before.

He knew that they could not regenerate as Programs could. Not only was she a User, but she was of _Flynn descent!_ Her grandfather was the Creator! And her father was the Savior! It was only by her bloodline that he was able to stand there and stare at her. It made his mind toggle all the possibilities that, maybe, _he_ could be the one to find the secret hidden in her coding.

Did she even _have_ a coding?

He was told that Users are made of a liquid that seemed to be crimson. He didn't know what crimson really looked liked, but he was certain that it was beautiful. He wanted to see it. So bad.

As he thought this, he walked slowly up to her and sat down on the edge of the bed. Gradually, he touched her arm. He could feel the rush beneath her skin, the rush of that liquid he was told about. He could feel a steady pulse of...of _whatever was inside her_. He was so tempted to see that liquid that he reached for his disc on his back and lighted it. Zinc hesitated.

Her peaceful state would turn into turmoil if he did this.

But...the crimson...

Caregiver 24 walked into the room with the clothing pallet and handed it to Zinc. She stared at Zinc's disc. He started to get nervous.

Time elapsed into the silent room filled with tension.

Then she looked relieved. "_That's_ what I forgot! Her disc. I'll be right back."

She turned to leave and Zinc immediately put his disc away.


	3. Connection

Chapter 3: Connection

He felt ashamed of himself. How dare he try to cut her? What if he had went all the way through and cut her whole arm off? What if he cut through her entire body?

Zinc shivered. He decided never to try to cut her again.

The nurse came back in and handed him Tara's disk. She smiled, "Here; hope you don't cut her on accident."

She winked when she said it, but Zinc knew that she basically told him she was going to watch him. However, she might not tell the Consuls and that was her way of saving his butt.

Zinc turned back to Tara and carefully flipped her over on her stomach. She moaned, but Zinc ignored her and roughly yanked off her disk. He knew how to reset her digital growth and didn't care if it hurt without a drug-bit, so he just pulled up her coding on the Basic Menu from her disk and retracted all growth from the disk and copied it onto her new protected, safe one. He placed her new disk onto her back and then sent her old one into the BInc (Bit Incinerator).

Tara had known Zinc was in her room for a while now. She also knew that he had tried to cut her, which she took as an attempt of assassination. She didn't know anyone from this world and she wasn't going to trust anyone else if the one whom she thought was her friend had tried to kill her. In that moment, Tara made a plan to escape. Whoever Zinc's Boss was, he'd have to make a rain-check on the meeting.

So as soon as Zinc turned around to leave, she jumped up with her disk and kicked him from behind. He fell forward and she immediately jumped on him and put pressure on his arms with her knees so that he couldn't move. Tara pulled his head up by his hair and demanded, "What's the fastest way out of here?"

Zinc said, "Tara, what are you doing?"

Tara pulled harder on his hair. "You tried to kill me, you traitor!"

Zinc knew then that he had made a fatal mistake and his innocence only made him realize that she wasn't going to believe him no matter what he said. But he tried anyway.

He pleaded, "Tara! Tara! Please! I wasn't trying to kill you! I just—I just…"

Tara was seething now, but, there was something in his voice that made her loosen her hold. She growled at herself for giving mercy and let go, pulling him up along with her.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now!" she shouted.

Zinc begged with his eyes, but said calmly, "Look. I didn't mean any harm. It's just…" he sighed. Man, he was going to sound so stupid right now.

She prompted him, "What?"

He sighed again and looked down as he answered, "I've never seen the crimson you hold before. I wanted to see it so…"

Tara raised a skeptical eyebrow. "So you just decided to cut me?"

Zinc winced. "Look, I know that sounds illogical, but, I've been told that it looks beautiful…"

Tara began to laugh. And she thought he was a murderer.

Zinc took that laugh as a berating insult and it humiliated him down to his core. His cheeks began to get a rosy red.

She said, "Are you talking about blood?"

Zinc said, "Is that what you call it? I want to see it."

Tara shrugged and lighted her disk again. Without hesitation, she swiped it quickly over her palm. Zinc moved closer to her hand with excited eagerness.

He softly brushed his fingers over her hand and the blood was smeared onto his fingers. Zinc whispered, "It is beautiful just as he said."

Tara rolled her eyes. "If you ever see a lot of this on me, please don't stand there and stare like you're doing now."

Zinc laughed. "Oh, I know what that means. It's alright. I was prepared for this."

Tara analyzed his sentence and demanded, "Prepared for what?"

Zinc slowly frowned. "We were supposed to be partners."

Tara raised her eyebrow. "Partners? _Partners_? Ha! You almost killed me—twice. I saved your butt—twice. How in any way is that collaboration?"

He laughed. "I'm constantly testing you, Tara."

She rolled her eyes once more. "Yeah. A 'test'. Pffft," she mumbled.

Zinc laughed again. "One day you're going to thank me."

"Yes. I dread that day," Tara retorted.

There then was an awkward silence that hung in the air for a moment. Zinc turned to leave promptly, still embarrassed by his previous childish urge. Tara didn't stop him, but let him leave by his own initiative, somewhat out of annoyance of him. However, he turned slowly to her and looked back.

"Are you coming or what?"

Tara looked surprised. "Why?"

"Don't you want to meet my Boss?"

Tara's face grew darker. "Yes. Yes I do."

Zinc turned to lead her out into the bustling hallway, not caring to let her catch up to him. Tara had no idea how this hallway worked. It was like a throng of buzzing bees all weaving their way toward their destination, no specific direction in which they were going. Tara was bumped from all sides, getting angry scowls and crude remarks on the way. She tried to go with the rhythm they moved to but it was irrefutable: she was not attuned to their steps.

Tara became frustrated after a while and decided to go another way about it. She began pushing people aside, breaking up the weaving flow and causing malfunction across the entire hall. However, it didn't disturb Tara so she continued her way through on her own, keeping Zinc in her line of sight.

Unbeknownst to Tara, Zinc was somewhat watching her. She was undeniably rough and impulsive, and the look on her face when she was jostled along the way made him laugh. After a while, however, he came to their designated area.

He turned and waited for Tara to arrive. She swiftly stood in front of him with a look of after-determination.

Zinc smiled mockingly at her and she hit him on the shoulder defensively.

"Next time you almost fall off a cliff, call someone else!"

He laughed and said, "He's in here."

She nodded and opened the door, hearing behind her, "Along with everyone else."

Tara became alarmed. "What?"

She opened the door to find a group of people around a wide, circular table. They all stood when they saw her and stared in complete awe.

One of them remarked, "Welcome to The Grid. Please, sit down. We have much to discuss."

Tara quietly sat down and listened to the collective whispers between the Consuls.

The one who had spoken to her, a man with green, glowing eyes and light skin, entreated Zinc, "Sit down. Although you are not a guest, you are still a Scout."

Zinc took the offer and sat primly next to Tara, who was itching to berate them on her untimely visitation.

The man seemed to sense this and said, "I am Tron, and this is Calchas."

A man with light brown skin, blue glowing eyes, and dark brown hair stood and gave a serious nod.

That name, "Tron", seemed to register some remembrance so she kept her eye on him for a while before deciding to actually say something. But, before she did, she listened to what the man, _Tron_, had to say.

"Now, I know that you are completely unaware of what is going on with your parents and brother at the moment…"

"How did you know I had a brother?"

"We've known you for years, Tara. We've been watching and hoping that you were qualified. And you are."

Tara maintained silence.

They stared for a brief, strenuous moment before Tron resumed speaking.

"As I was saying, although you have no idea what is going on, your parents might. Your grandfather was the Creator of this world until the Deluge. Some survivors made a new city of their own, for the first time, and renamed it The Grid."

Zinc was nodding, as if he was so proud to make a city all by his ancestor's self.

"However, a man named Trikon admired the works of Clue, a clone that your grandfather had created and destroyed. Trikon won many hearts of the people and gathered followers. By force, he appointed himself as Ruler of the Grid."

Tara smiled. "So you're the resistance party, huh?"

Tron nodded. "Precisely. We would like Users to live."

Tara became immediately alarmed. "What?"

"Trikon intends to finish what Clue had not accomplished: domination of other worlds and combine them under one head, making the "perfect system" for all."

Tara's head buzzed. "So, he intends to…_kill_…Users?"

Everyone nodded. Tara felt alarmed and drained. She already knew what this is about. They expect her to save her world and everyone else's. They expect her to be the chosen one.

She looked at Tron. "I can't just waltz in here and destroy this dude. I don't see why you just raid the tower. Well, unless, of course, you don't have numbers on your side."

Calchas nodded. "Yes; that we are lacking. Many people don't know Users and they seem to be negative according to the way the Creator brought the Deluge, but they don't know you."

Tara laughed. "Actually, they do. We are probably the worse race in all universes. Right now, I think Clue's idea sounds only logical."

The room seemed to freeze with tension. It seemed as if everyone's mind had just thought: _What?_

Tara then said, "Well, look, what am I supposed to do? Kill this guy? Or…what? I can't do what my grandfather did, if that's what you're thinking. I assume that was the source of his expiration, and I can't just die away from my family, no matter how dysfunctional they are."

Calchas sighed. "We don't expect you to become familiar with death much more than you already have. We just want you to be the figurehead. We need a public symbol and a User is exactly the solution."

Tara laughed. "History has taught me that, when one side loses, the figurehead becomes the one to blame when he did nothing at all. Thus, they are killed or imprisoned—more than likely killed however. And, like I said, I don't plan on dying just because you want me to be some kind of symbol for you party."

Zinc interrupted. "May I speak, sir?"

Tron nodded and Zinc stood to express himself. He looked Tara in the eye. "Look, Tara. I know you don't think this is a good idea for you, but, really, you don't have much of a choice. You don't want to die away from your family? Well, if you don't do this, there won't be a family to die away _from_. Whether you like it or not, you're our figurehead. We need followers, but for that, we need a strong leader. You're strong. You're a leader."

Tara retorted, "Zinc, you've been trained. You're a soldier. You know that country comes first. In my world, you can do whatever you want. People die so much that it doesn't even matter to anyone anymore. Our world is based on the "Every-Man-For-Himself" principle. No one person can be the savior. I'm not your savior."

She sighed and sat silent for a minute, sitting back and thinking on it. She finally spoke after anxious looks from everyone.

"Fine. I'll do it."

Everyone cheered.

"_But_," she added, "on one condition."

Everyone stopped cheering and stood in silence, watching her.

"I want to be informed on everything. No lies, no hidden secrets, no kept-back information, none of that. If you want me to be a figurehead, then I have to be an informed one. You can't leave me in the dust just because I'm a User girl who doesn't know where she even is right now."

Zinc opened his mouth to say something, but Tara put her hand up and said, "Shut up."

He closed his mouth and frowned. "Why do you have to be so mean?"

She replied with a smile. "Because I'm a User. Deal with it."

He smiled and then turned to Tron. "Are we going to do the test now?"

Tara became alert. "A test? What test? Figureheads don't get tests, dudes."

Zinc raised his eyebrows twice. "Oh yes they do."

Calchas gave Zinc a stern look and turned back to Tara saying kindly, "We want to see if your great human bloodline from your father and exotic heredity from your mother can fuse to have the capability to make a connection with the Grid."

Tara looked confused. "With the Grid?"

Tron nodded. "Yes. The Grid is live material. It's a biodigital life form that's somewhat alive. It has its own memory, but does not really think."

She nodded. "So it's like a cell; except, more human."

Calchas nodded slowly, confused. "I'm not certain what a cell is, but I trust you know what you are talking about."

Tara laughed and nodded. "Yeah. I understand. So, what's the test?"

"We're going to strap you to table and give you connections with the Grid through your disc. That way, it has an uplink to follow to get to your brain."

She looked uncertain. "You want it to get inside of my head? Not the other way around?"

Tron said, "You said it yourself: you're not your grandfather. _He_ could make connections all by himself."

Tara rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, let's just do this. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep."

Zinc snorted. "Whiny figurehead," he mumbled.

Tara glared at him and said, "I will bust you to dust, bro. Don't even."

Zinc rolled his eyes and proceeded to walk out toward the testing room. Tara followed him out, confronting the sea of Programs again. She growled frustratingly. She was _not_ going through this hassle once more.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Tara yelled.

The whole activity of the hall immediately stopped to look at her. Tara huffily followed Zinc (who looked at her with a raised eyebrow) toward the testing room easily, bumping into no one but getting weird stares and whispers.

Tara didn't care.

They weren't people she cared about.

"So, will it hurt?" she asked, as her head was being pushed down to be strapped to the table.

"Um…yeah. A lot."

She growled. "Zinc, you're not helping."

He laughed and said, "Wasn't trying to."

Tara was this close to busting his head against a wall, but decided to act later and focus on calming down.

Calchas said, "The best thing to do is to make your mind blank so that the Grid Lion can have an open environment."

_Grid Lion?_ Tara thought.

She kept quiet as she felt the plug being attached to her disc. She closed her eyes and felt light, as if a gust of wind was being blown across her face.

Zinc watched her calm face from behind a glass in the watching room a distance off from the table. It was sort of mesmerizing. Others they had drawn had their eyes wide open, nervous and afraid. However, she closed her eyes with tranquil courage. It gave him hope that she was going to make a connection with the Grid.

Tron said, "She's very calm."

Zinc nodded. "Indeed. It's almost surprising."

They laughed lightly and continued examining the spectacle in front of them. After the doctors had placed the straps, Tara seemed ready and alert, yet calm and distant. A man in a white suit came with a three-dimensional holographic switch.

He said, "When you're ready, sir."

Tron nodded and stared at the calm-looking girl as they flicked the switch. For a second, there was nothing and he could feel the anxiety and tension in the air. It was almost unbearable when Tara suddenly opened her eyes and gasped for breath. Tron panicked. This had happened to all the other ones when they weren't chosen by the Grid Lion. If that was the case, they had to try to help her out before it killed her.

Zinc said fearfully, "Sir, let's get her out of there!"

Calchas said, "No! Wait a little more."

Zinc stood restless, but silent, his eyes looking apprehensively at the shaking body strapped to the table. Tara was coughing and sputtering, and then, a flicker of anger whipped across her face. No one else but Zinc saw it. He knew then that the Grid Lion was going to let her in. Tara was going to fight. The others didn't.

Tron said, "Alright, unplug it. She's not getting anywhere."

Zinc stopped the doctor and said, "No! Don't. She's going to make it, I promise you."

Calchas raised an eyebrow. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

Zinc looked at Tara while answering, "Because she's _fighting_ the Lion. The others didn't."

Tron nodded, impressed by Zinc's observance and told the doctor to wait before pulling the plug. And after a few short seconds, Tara's shaking and coughing subsided until it became silent.

Everyone in the room stood still, the silence screaming at all of them.

Tara then opened her eyes. And when she looked at them, they all jumped in surprise because they were bright, neon blue.

Calchas whispered, "She did it."

After the plug had gone in, Tara felt a rush of excited bright orange energy grasp her mind. It roared at her with such ferocity that she trembled before it. Its eyes were red and its teeth were jagged to the point, wanting to rip her to shreds.

A booming voice screamed, "WHO ARE YOU?"

Tara gulped and said with a tiny voice, "Tara Flynn."

The Grid Lion laughed, its echo slapping her in the face. She then felt herself being lifted by her neck, the Lion squeezing her throat like an anaconda.

It menaced, "You are a Flynn. You destroyed the Sea of Simulation from which my originals were created! How dare you come back!"

Tara was crying now, feeling her heart beat faster. She was flung inside the void and hit an invisible wall. Her back was badly injured and she could barely stand when she yelled back at the Grid Lion as it started to leave.

"I CAME FOR YOUR HELP!"

The Grid Lion halted. "My help? Ha. Child, you know not how to _use_ my help!"

She yelled back, "Then teach me!"

It suddenly brought its face close to hers and looked into her eyes. Its skin was like a fire: even a few feet away she could feel the heat. Her eyes grew to a burning flame, just like the Grid Lion's red irises, and she felt its energy seep into her brain.

The voice commanded, "You will learn the past. And through the past we will create the future."

All of a sudden, images sucked into her head.

Her father, her mother, light flashing, and an old man smiling as a gust of dust blew from every direction.

Her grandfather.

Then it was gone. The memory from the Grid Lion was absent and so was the Grid Lion itself. However, she still felt his presence inside her, like it left a stain on her mind. And when she opened her eyes, she felt powerful. After a while, the burning diminished as Zinc, Tron, and Calchas came in.

Zinc said, "Are you okay?"

She was about to say something when her throat caught her. A doctor instantly brought her water and she sipped before speaking.

"Yeah. The Grid Lion is very powerful, but I talked to him and I think he's going to help. However, he said he'd have to teach me some stuff. I think he left some of his memory in my brain."

Calchas told a doctor, "Give her new protection for her disc. Trikon does not need to get that in his hands."

Tara said, "So, did I pass the test?"

Tron smiled, "Yes. You passed the test."


	4. The Void

Chapter 4: Training

Tara woke up in the middle of the night even though she was exhausted.

It was the Grid Lion.

The opening that he had gone through to get to her mind was still open. He could come in whenever he pleased and rouse her roughly awake. Like he was doing right now.

She heard, "Get up! Get up! If you want me to be a teacher, I must have a student!"

Tara thought: _Dude, I'm seriously drained from yesterday. Can't we wait a little longer?_

The Grid Lion calmed its voice and replied, "The one you met yesterday was the Grid Lion, my guardian. _I_ am the real Grid."

Tara was skeptical. _How do I know you're not Trikon?_

The voice laughed. "Because Trikon wouldn't be talking to you. He'd kill you in your sleep."

Tara nodded. _Okay, so what am I to do?_

"Watch," it said.

A few seconds later, and Tara felt her eyes begin to burn.

"You must go outside. There is no real Grid here. It's a replica. Almost everything here is because the Deluge destroyed most of it. But, there is a spot behind this building that no one but I know about. Go to it. There I can harvest the memory still impacted there."

_Why can you just do it from here?_

"Because you aren't connected to it like I am."

_Oh_, Tara thought.

However, she was still excruciatingly tired and her muscles were sore to the very core. Her advancement was quite slow for a sprightly young teenage girl. It frustrated the Grid greatly.

"Is this how you advance when lives are at stake!?"

_Don't you dare yell at me! YOU didn't get woken up at freaking three in the morning!"_

The Grid Master seemed to jolt in surprise. He was not used to this much aggressiveness in a tone being used directly at him.

He said, "Well, if you are not able to go fast enough, then I am."

Tara thought to herself: _What?_

Then she immediately understood. She felt it.

The Grid Master came all the way into her body and it seemed as though the heat was unbearable. Her mind became opened too much, and it made her body believe it was being electrocuted. However, the power was amazingly delightful. She felt as if she was walking on clouds.

Grid Master explained, "Once I am done with you, this is how you feel when you reach me."

Tara thought: _I am half-happy, half-scared to death. Is there a chance I could die?_

"Yes. A very _high_ chance you could die."

Tara gulped and let the Grid Master control her walking. He went even slower than she did.

Grid Master said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know controlling all your muscles would be this difficult."

Tara said, "You've never had a body before?"

Grid Master replied, "No. However, it would be very intriguing to have one."

Tara said, "Well then, I'll see if I can get you one."

Grid Master seemed to smile. "That would be wonderful."

"But, for now, let me do my own walking."

Grid Master laughed. "Yes, I think that is best."

Tara then heard from her right, "Tara?"

She then realized she was talking out loud to herself in front of everyone who was in the hall at this hour. Zinc was at his room door, groggy, and dressed in a suit without lights.

She giggled to herself: _Nice pajamas, weirdo_.

"Yeah. It's me. Grid Master wants me to go somewhere."

Zinc frowned. "You mean the Grid Lion?"

"No. That's its guardian. I mean the Grid Master. He's kind of nice."

The Grid Master said, "Thank you."

She replied, "You're welcome."

Zinc didn't hear that and rolled his eyes. "Can there be a time when you're _not_ snooty?"

Tara laughed. "I was talking to Grid Master." After seeing his face, she laughed again. "This is going to be a problem until we find him a body."

Zinc smiled a little, still sleepy. "Where are you going?"

Tara frowned slowly. She asked Grid Master: _Can I tell him? He's my friend._

"No," the powerful voice answered, "He cannot know where you are going. This is a secret to only us. I was even hesitant on letting _you_ know."

Tara looked at Zinc. "I can't really tell you. I don't really know. The Grid Master said that he's gonna take me some place to train my mind. Wanna come along?"

Grid Master's fury engulfed me. "WHY DID YOU ASK HIM THAT?!"

She thought back: _SHUT UP! JUST WATCH!_

Zinc deciphered on whether or not watching her lay still for hours was better than _sleeping_ for hours. The answer was obvious.

"No thanks," he replied, "I need to catch up on my sleep. I have to train tomorrow too."

Tara nodded. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then."

Zinc smiled and waved slightly before closing his door, most likely lugging himself to sleep. Tara sighed with relief and kept walking forward, keeping the Grid Master for company.

She thought in her head afterward, knowing that she'd look weird if she kept talking to herself.

_I told you. I knew he would say no._

The Grid Master didn't want to admit to her triumph in logic, but instead said, "Well, I'm glad you're intelligent. Now, keep walking. I'll direct you from inside."

Tara nodded and walked along the almost empty hallway. It was dark, and she didn't have a clue where she was going. If Grid Master suddenly left her, she would be lost forever until he came back into her mind to guide her.

"Don't worry," Grid Master said, "I won't leave you on purpose."

Tara rolled her eyes and thought: _Well, that's a dependable guarantee._

She walked, it seemed, endlessly. It was only after ten minutes did she get to the door to go outside. Her stomach growled at her, demanded to be fed. Tara ignored the growling and waited, her patience wearing thin.

The Grid Master said, "Hold on. Let me unlock it."

A clicking sound emanated from the top to the bottom of the door. A pressurized seal seemed to open, releasing air. The door then slid silently open, the cold from the outside blasting her open skin.

The Grid Master said, "Make a left and keep going until you find a cave. There is where we will train."

Tara obeyed and, this time, ran. She couldn't take just walking anymore. However, when she did, her adrenaline added to the power of the Grid Master's presence heightened her physical skill. She ran like a cheetah, the wind whipping past her face like a new, slashing element of its own.

The Grid Master was quiet the entire time. He didn't want to say anything that let the human girl know that he actually delighted in the free, childish way she ran across to the cave. Her excited presence made him feel like a being.

As Tara slowed down in front of the cave, catching her breath, the Grid Master instructed, "Step in, and follow the light."

She nodded and slowly walked in. Tara didn't see the light that Grid Master had relayed until she stepped right in the middle between two giant boulders. It was a narrow pathway, but she was able to surpass it with ease.

When she came to the light, it reminded her of the one she'd seen at her grandfather's arcade. It chilled her to think that it could lead to somewhere worse than this place.

Grid Master's presence suddenly vanished and her mind became blank and powerless. Tara became scared. Did he leave her on purpose? Is she stuck there forever?

Then a bright orange hazy light came from her left. She turned to it and realized it was coming from the giant boulder. As she looked closer, she recognized that it was shaping into her shadow.

Grid Master said aloud, "I shall be your shadow from now on. Your body is very difficult to contend with. I move faster with my normal utensils."

Tara nodded and took a deep breath. "Now. How are we going to train?"

Grid Master replied, "We are not. This light is the way back to your home. If you so choose, you can return back to your family and live peacefully once more."

Tara felt shock and sudden adrenaline. Her first instinct told her to run toward that light and hop out with a yell on the other side, bounding with joy. However, when she thought back on what the Consuls had told her, on Zinc's pleading look to help them, she retreated back, away from the portal.

Tara said, "I don't want to go home yet; I still have to fulfill my duty here. And as long as Trikon has a plan to destroy this home and mine, then I won't stop until his plan can't be put to use."

Grid Master seemed to emanate a sort of proud, knowing energy. "Good. Now I can train you. I needed to know if you had a willing heart to stay; if you accepted your purpose. Now that I know, I can teach you."

Tara smiled and said, "Okay then. Let's get to it."

Sam was worried. It was midnight and Tara still wasn't home yet.

His parents, of course, were asleep, exhausted from arguing. But he himself was still awake, feeling tears come to his eyes as he thought about all the things that could have happened to her. However, he stopped after a moment.

Tara had done this before.

She came back until early in the morning, cuffing him on the air as a warning not to tell their parents. And why would he? He would be doing the same this if _he_ had a hideout. With those thoughts, Sam went back to sleep. However, he wouldn't find his sister home when he awoke.

Tara felt the need to breathe. Of course, every organism always does, but she couldn't at the moment, and it gnawed at her lungs.

She was in the digital world.

The Grid Master had told her that the best way for her to train was to become one with the Grid so that reaching him would be easy. But, it wasn't going to be easy for a while. She couldn't necessarily breathe in the digital world. Well, there was oxygen, and she _was_ breathing, but the pressure from being out of her own world caused her lungs to shrink and her mind to go dizzy.

Grid Master had said it was to be expected, but it still made Tara panic. After a few minutes, she could hardly take it and had to resurface out of the Grid again to keep herself from going insane. Grid Master was somewhat disappointed.

"Tara, you must release your fear. You don't have time or room for fear. Let it go. Think of your family."

Tara knew that it wasn't going to help much, but she persisted in being triumphant. So plunged back into the biodigital portal and walked through the swirling lights and beaming orange organisms streaming through fields of time and space. Her lungs grew smaller and smaller with every step, her mind beginning to swirl and produce migraines.

As she looked around, Tara knew that she had passed many dimensions with just one step, and it amazed her to think she could have access to it.

She had her mother to thank for that.

That thought took her mind off the pain in her chest and the reflection of home escaped from its confined closet in the back of her mind. Sam, her little brother, probably wondering where she was; her mother, staying home and worrying about needless things; her father, working hard and coming home restless and exhausted. Her family was really contorted, but she loved them all, no matter how much they disregarded her.

The Grid Master said, "Now breathe."

Tara closed her eyes, scared of the panic that might attack her suddenly. However, her lungs opened up and her mind became powerful, the bright light becoming even brighter. Tara felt the energy around her rise in a wave of electric connection, herself being the piece between the two sides of energy. As she reached her hand to one side, the heat from the energy grew.

But she could breathe.

And with a gust of inhalation, the heat subsided immensely and she connected to one dimension. A gust of the present swept into her mind like a whipping wind: her brother was sleeping soundly in his bed as the dawn of day began to emerge from the horizon outside the window. Her parents were sleeping together, hugging each other in a subconscious love.

Tara felt calmed by their tiny bit of presence and turned to the other dimension, the Grid's dimension, and reached her fingers out to the unbearable heat.

Another breath.

_Inches left to the touch…_

A slow exhalation.

_Centimeters…_

The scorching heat.

_So close…_

"TARA!"

The orange organism jerked back immediately and roared in shock. The dimensions dismembered and she felt the ground beneath her start to crumble.

Grid Master yelled, "Run Tara! If you don't get out of here alive, you'll die between dimensions!"

Tara sprinted to resurface from the portal. She screamed, "Couldn't you have started that in the beginning _before _I _stepped in_!?"

The track beneath her fell under her feet and she yelled as the portal door grew smaller and smaller. Down, down, down she fell, knowing that gravity was pulling her to her death.

The Grid Master yelled, "BREATHE, TARA, BREATHE!"

But she couldn't.

Tara was falling into the void below, and she couldn't breathe.


	5. Viruses

Chapter 5: Viruses

Sam woke to a really bad headache.

After thinking about it, he realized it was the pain of subliminal worry.

He had not heard his sister come home in the middle of the night and threaten to beat him up if he told their parents. He realized that his parents weren't going to know about her absence until he told them. But then, he hoped that maybe that wouldn't be the case, so he decided to wait it out and see what would happen, though part of him chastised himself for playing with something so serious as a missing sibling.

He waded downstairs in his pajamas to make himself something to eat, on the way passing his Mom climbing up tiredly. She looked so pale and exhausted that Sam couldn't worry her even more with the thought of her daughter being kidnapped. Plus, Tara might have slept somewhere else and then decided to come back later on in the day when their father left for work, when the house was silent yet loud with the hurtful words still hanging in the air.

Sam smiled weakly at his mother and she kissed his head as he walked down.

That kiss was like a death blow. He knew that, even though they sometimes neglected them, his parents loved him and his sister. He had a right to let them know. Yet, Tara had done this before. Why worry?

_Yes_, he asked himself, _why are you worrying?_

In the back of his mind, he answered his own question.

Because he knew that, somehow, Tara wasn't coming back.

-o-o-O-o-o-

Zinc felt responsible for Tara's death.

He had followed her to the cave and, when he saw the portal, he felt that she had betrayed them all and went back home. But then he looked inside and saw what was happening. He had called out to her, seeing her almost touch a monster-like Grid organism. Of course, she looked peaceful enough, but she was literally on fire. Her skin glowed with so much heat that it spontaneously produced flame. When he spoke up, the monster roared in Tara's face and made an earthquake inside the lock of dimensions.

Tara ran for her life toward the opening, but didn't make it in time. And as she fell, his heart broke into a million pieces. He just killed the gateway to a better future. A Flynn. An ISO.

Zinc was still in the cave, seconds after seeing her fall from the pathway to the never-ending void of death.

What had he done?

Then a voice gripped his soul and roared, "WHO ARE YOU?!"

Zinc trembled with the ferocity of the voice and managed to say, "My-My name is Zinc."

Then he felt his insides being squeezed by an angry, invisible fist. "YOU ARE A PROGRAM! AN INVADER OF THE GRID MASTER'S TERRITORY! YOU SHALL BE IMMEDIATELTY DEREZZED!"

Zinc felt himself immediately panic, heat engulfing his body and enflaming his entrails.

Then a serene, authoritative voice commanded, "Put him down, Gathar. He is Tara's companion."

The heat subsided in his body to a gentle iciness. Zinc said, "Is she okay?"

The Grid Master said nothing. Instead, he looked into the Program's disc and connected to his main core. Zinc's eyes burned and his body started shaking uncontrollably. He felt like his whole entire existence was being intruded by a force he could not contain. It was like cold, scrawny fingers touching his soul and freezing his own mind while burning his digital body.

Grid Master took no mercy on the boy and demanded, "Why have you come here, program?"

He could barely speak. "…Tara…"

Grid Master nodded and slowly turned his biodigital hand.

Zinc yelled in agonizing pain. It was like someone was twisting his leg into an agglomeration of knotted limbs.

Grid Master replied, "I see. The User girl. The one you killed?"

Zinc coughed and sputtered relentlessly. "Didn't…mean…"

Then, a few seconds of silence, and the Grid Master dropped Zinc.

Zinc's mind was scarred forever. And as he passed out, he knew he would never be the same again.

-o-o-O-o-o-

As she fell in the void, she remembered what Grid Master had told her.

She had the power to control the Grid due to her bloodline. And since she was an ISO, she could understand the ancient coded symbols of Grid communication. She remembered that she, by right, owned this place. Thus, by default, the place couldn't own her.

So she called out to the Grid life forms.

She waited.

Nothing happened.

She was still falling. Maybe she was too cold of a host.

Tara finally breathed, rising her body temperature, then called out to them, feeling the void's fingers crawl under her skin and begin to pull her mind in different directions. Nothing was happening and Tara panicked. If they could not reach her in time, then she was going to die all because some idiot had put her out of focus.

What else could she have done wrong?

Her vision was blurring, darkness slowly creeping in from all sides. A kind of icy cold grasped her throat and perniciously rose its way to her brain, and it was like ice on a pan. She was shocked, paralyzed by fear, and knew that she was going to perish with no one around her.

But then, she breathed.

Orange light in the distance rushed to save Tara's life. As they came closer, Tara was this much closer to death, and her eyes slowly began to droop downwards.

When they reached her, it was as if life touched her again. She felt the power of the Grid pull her back from the grave and renew her confidence. The organisms struggled to pull away from the void, but, once they did, they raced to get away from it as far as possible before they themselves, too, were drawn to the endless source of darkness.

And as the portal light came closer, Tara's eyes came to rest.

-o-o-O-o-o-

Tron waited.

He was normally a deep sleeper. However, someone had woken him up at four in the morning to relay in important, classified message. He grumbled about this. Maybe, for the sake of the word classified, he should go back to sleep and not be told anything.

He knew, though. He knew that this wasn't just some measly message. Or else, no one would intrude.

So as he sat in his night-suit on the big, cushioned chair, Calchas strolled wakefully in and immediately released a multitudinous of meaningless questions that Tron decided not to pay attention to.

"What's going on?"

Tron shrugged.

"Why is it only the two of us?"

Tron shrugged.

"Tell me, Tron!"

"It's classified stuff, so it's only you and me."

Calchas thought on this and then asked, "Is it about Trikon?"

Tron shrugged.

"Or is it about the portal?"

Tron shrugged.

Calchas growled frustratingly. "You should admire and learn from the great philosophies of cooperation."

Tron said, "Philosophy bores me."

Calchas narrowed his eyes at Tron before taking a chair two down from Tron, waiting silently with him. And after a few minutes, the door opened and two trained soldiers came in and stood at erect attention. Tron and Calchas stood and saluted to the two. Once saluted back, they dismissed and began the interrogation. Of course, Calchas started.

"What has happened?"

"Tara is dead."

Silence protruded out from the darkest corners.

Tron and Calchas exchanged looks of alarm. "Where is she? In her room?"

One answered, "No. We last found her outside the building in a cave. Zinc had followed her, but, from what we saw, he is also dead."

Tron was completely confused. "But, what killed them?"

"We are not entirely sure, sir. We've never seen the setting. They were both on the floor in the cave, but Zinc's body was still there and Tara did not have blood."

Calchas said, "Can we upload them back from their discs?"

The other replied, "Well, sir, we still running diagnostics on both of their discs and…all that comes up are symbols and bright lights that mean nothing at all."

Tron said, "Check for Grid remnants."

One asked hesitantly, "Sir…?"

"Do it now!"

Both said, "Yes, sir."

Once the two left, Calchas turned to Tron, "Grid remnants?"

Tron nodded and gathered himself to the infirmary. "Maybe the Grid Lion killed both of them as revenge."

Calchas widened his eyes. "The Grid…killing its children…?"

Tron looked at him. "Times are changing, Calchas. We must face the truth to face the future."

-o-o-O-o-o-

_Am I dead?_ she thought.

Unlike most people, Tara wasn't in a position to fully answer that question. Of course, she wasn't dreaming. She wasn't in a different universe. She wasn't in another person's body. No, Tara just wasn't sure if she was live or not. That was just about the only questioned that hovered in her head at the moment. And since that one wasn't answered, it probably was important that she find out the answer to it.

So she tried to move.

Her limbs: they weren't moving. It wasn't as though she was holding herself back. And it wasn't as though someone was holding her down. They just…weren't fully operational. So many times she threw herself into fits of dizziness because her body couldn't up with her mind.

What Tara didn't know was that she had been touched. The void, just as everything else on the Grid, was alive. And it had touched her, in hopes of killing her with a dark poison. But Tara, what it hadn't intended on, was a fighter. She wasn't about to die just because of some dark creeper touch.

She wondered, though, that maybe she was dead. That she was stuck in the void. Forever. Lost in time.

But then she smelled the damp air of the Grid and knew that she was fine. And out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zinc, pale and unconscious. She hoped he wasn't dead because of her.

-o-o-O-o-o-

The Grid Master had felt Tara's energy wave from beneath him in the void and had sent organisms to retrieve her. After she came up, Tara was pale and had purple viruses coursing through her veins, killing her insides. He had immediately taken over her body and fought the viruses with all his might. She was recovering smoothly, but not all the viruses were completely gone. It was going to take days to filter them out.

And the boy, the program boy, who had taken Tara out of focus, was going to pay dearly for causing the harm coming to the Master's pupil. That despicable creature could have killed the only hope to the Grid's rebirth. It could've meant the end to Master himself. Well, if Tara died, he still had her father and brother to live off of. However, Sam didn't qualify and her father was too old.

Tara was his hope for survival.

But then, she wasn't.

He had found something out about the boy during his recuperation. He was also a special one. The unusual program Scout had the gift as well, and it intrigued him to think that they were hiding him all this time. Thus, it was only fair that he repair the Program as well, out of respect to the lost ancient civilization.

-o-o-O-o-o-

Tron came to the infirmary and looked at Tara.

She was partly blue and pale, sweating clear water from her pores. She looked as if she were dying on the table, falling apart in front of them. He turned to look at Zinc, but he was no better. His eyes were wide open, but it was only a look of blankness on his face. He didn't respond to senses like touch, smell, or hearing and barely moved at all. If he was still alive, then he would starve to death unless they found a way to revive him.

He turned to Calchas. "Why do the young die at times when they are not supposed to die?"

Calchas replied, "Because the young are the targets. They are the generation that determine whether the next perish or not." He stood silent before inquiring, "How could Tara have gone into paralysis without being injected? We had the anti-virus protector immediately updated into her disc."

The doctor overheard Calchas and answered primly, "The subject could have gained a virus from the bugs outside in the cave. A common flee could have infiltrated her human skin and immediately reproduced in the lively conditions of her blood. It's easier than you think. But, the only thing is, we only find traces of Grid and something we have never seen before. Take a look."

Tron and Calchas followed the doctor to the board. Images of something dark and monstrous came from the projection screen and set their anxiety a little higher. What they saw before them made their minds become hungry for it. But it was a bad hungry. They didn't want to be pulled by it, but the monster demanded it and they obeyed.

The doctor managed to yell, "Exit image!"

The monster disappeared and they all took a deep breath. Calchas looked at Tron. Tron looked at Calchas. The doctor stood silent, not exactly certain what was going on.

Tron said, "I think that's what caused both of them to be like this. Do you think the Grid Lion would take them there?"

Then a disturbing voice spoke, "I will take care of the human and the boy."

It maintained a sense of authority, the voice did. Yet it also held a sort of mildness. Everyone was silent, of course, wondering where the voice emanated from and who it was exactly.

Calchas stepped forward. "May I ask, who are you?"

The voice answered, "The Grid Master."

It sent shivers to everyone's core.

The voice asked, "Give me a body so that I may fully be with Tara without hurting her mind."

Tron said, "You mean an empty program unit?"

"Yes."

Calchas immediately ordered a nearby guard, "Get one from the experimental basement and bring it up on a table."

The guard nodded, saluted, and went off to do his bidding.

The uncomfortable silence made everyone stand still, not sure of the Grid Master was entirely gone. Unfortunately for them, the biodigital life form was far from being gone.

"You've been keeping him safe I see."

Tron and Calchas froze, knowing exactly what the Master was talking about.

Calchas swallowed. "We believed that, if we hid him, he wouldn't get caught. And, we also knew about Tara, so we believed the two of them could regenerate the race."

The Grid Master said, "I see. But Tara will not succumb to such a boy unless he goes to live with her on earth, a place unfitted for Programs."

Tron spoke boldly, "I know more about Users than you do, Grid Master, and they've been known to alteration—emotionally, physically, and mentally. They are adept to constantly progress or degrade; they are changing all the time."

The Grid Master laughed mockingly, the vibrations of belittlement stinging badly in everyone's ears.

He said, "Yes, I am aware of that. However, I don't believe Tara is one to change. She is steadfast, impulsive, and harsh. The Program boy is persuasive, thoughtful, and kind. I don't see the two of them ever being able to repopulate."

There was another silence but it wasn't as bad as the other ones.

Grid Master asked, "So, when did you plan on letting him near me?"

Calchas replied, "We believed that you would kill him. So we kept him inside until we found Tara. That way, she could connect to you and Zinc could come through her."

The Grid Master said, "I would not kill him. If anything, my Guardian Gathar would. However, I see your logic and fully acknowledge it."

Then Tara began to shake excessively, and the doctors all rushed to their positions.

"She's going into convulsions!"

"How do we deal with this? We've never had to fix something like this…"

"Her pulse rate is fastening!"

"What do we do, doctor? We don't even know what the thing moving _is_…"

"I will deal with her," said the deep, ominous voice again.

After a few minutes, the shaking subsided and Grid Master explained, "I have to flush out the virus."

Calchas said, "So she's alive?"

"Both of them are. They're just completely unconscious. Tara is going to wake up with a broken mind, however. She's been touched by the Void."

Tron asked, "What's the Void?"

"After the original Grid was destroyed, it left a bounty of half-dead, half-living organisms of the Grid. They roam between dimensions and eat off the energy of others. Together they form the Void. I have a Guardian for this very reason. If any of the Void tried to disarm me or give me a virus, I could be immediately derezzed. How much more so for a regular human girl who cannot simply be erased and restarted?"

Silence ate at all of them, pondering over the grave reality of it.

"However," the Master continued, "the boy can immediately be released. He's just going to have to deal with pain in his mind after being in my presence."

Then, two guards came in carrying the empty Program unit.

Grid Master commanded, "Place it on the connecting table. I'll take it from there."

The guards hustled to obey and lifted the unit onto the table, retreating rapidly back to their positions at the door. An orange light seeped through the technology in the table and into the Program unit. The Program's eyes turned bright orange, its suit-lights becoming neon purple.

Everything dimmed, the source of the Grid's energy now absent.

Grid Master stood up. "I will need all of you to get out of this room. I don't want to be too close to you, or otherwise you will start to decompose under my radiance."

Everyone backed away quickly and stood silent as the glowing being walked over to Tara's ashen body. She was murmuring now, tears streaking down her face as the pain became too great for her. The heat she had felt once she was strong intensified now that she was weak. Zinc didn't cry or make any sound, but lied there perfectly still as his mind was elsewhere.

Tara's eyes shot open and her glowing irises burned her immensely. The flames were everywhere. Her head, her shoulders, her waist, her legs was covered with fire; a burning sensation enveloped her entire being. She screamed for her life, the tears sizzling loudly in her ears.

The noise woke Zinc, who, frankly, did not know what was going on after he saw Tara crying.

He looked at Tron. "What's going on? Is she hurt?"

Calchas said, "That is the Grid Master. He's flushing Tara's virus out."

Zinc turned to look at the orange glowing form. "The Grid Master? He's the one who put me into unconsciousness!"

Tara could hear none of this, however, the crackle of fire the only sound.

Tron turned to the Grid Master. "Is this true?"

Grid Master did not turn. "Yes. But I thought he was an assassin. He yelled at Tara while she was in concentration. It is his fault that she is in this mess."

Everyone looked at Zinc.

His cheeks became hot as he explained, "She was going to touch an organism that resembled Trikon's minions! What was I to do? Stand there and admire the scene?"

Everyone turned to Grid Master. "It was Trikon's minion."

The silence was choking them all.

He continued, "She needs to be able to infiltrate his forces. Thus, connection was only…logical."

Grid Master turned, done from flushing out Tara for the third time, and said, "She is rebellious. If she is to submit, pain is in order. Right now, she is going through more pain than Trikon has ever put any opposition in. She feels as though she is on fire, yet is not burning."

Tron's face was full of appalling dislike.

"Her eyes need to be open. That way, she will not go to sleep and the virus won't take route."

Calchas said, "I am sorry, but I cannot have you torture our figurehead."

Grid Master's heat made the air sizzle. "You will limit nothing! I am the life of your home! You have taken all for granted and yet still aren't satisfied!"

His booming voice made the whole building shake and the air become hot. Amongst the shattered grid and cracked walls, Tara began screaming again.

The shaking made it all worse. The virus used her fear to jump back into her bloodstream and circulate. Subconsciously, Tara knew what was coming next and it _did_ come next. The fire, the ever-burning fire, came to stab her only secure place of mind. She was broken, she knew, and all she wanted to do was go home and hug her family and cry. If not, death seemed more pleasurable than going through the torturous fire once more.


	6. Weakness

Chapter 6: Weakness

It's been at least two weeks since Tara's hospitalization.

Zinc was dedicated to helping Tara after he had heard her scream. Her tears and painful movements made him want to give her all the comfort she needed. In every way, Zinc tried to help Grid Master flush out the viruses.

"The only way," Grid Master explained, "to flush them out is by making her warm. They die under immense heat."

And with that, Zinc brought all the heating utensils he could find: blankets, digital heaters, warming pads, and, even, at times, he would warm her up himself by pouring hot water over her. Of course, her screams were almost unbearable. But, he knew that her pain was going to happen if she was to survive.

One day, Grid Master and he were working together and Grid Master had spoken to him.

"When do you plan on telling her?"

Zinc was confused. "Telling her what?"

"Telling her what you really are."

Zinc widened his eyes with sudden realization. He turned rapidly to face him. "How did you know?"

Grid Master laughed. "I went through your mind. Did you think you could hide it from me there?"

Zinc turned back to what he was doing and slowly said, "But, I don't think she'll want to hear her second job after she kills Trikon. I'll tell her only afterward. This way, if she says no, then she can go home."

Grid Master said, "But you must repopulate the…"

Zinc interrupted. "Even _I_ don't like the plan. If she wants to go home, then I'll sneak her out. If she doesn't like me, and I don't like her, then I don't see the point in trying to repopulate. That's not my job."

Grid Master turned to Zinc and touched a burning finger to his chest. "Your job is to father children of your own race. If you two cannot have children, then the line of the ISO will be lost. And all the configurations and perfect will of order will evanesce."

Zinc took a deep breath. "I know. I am aware of how vital my race is, yet, my purity and her impurity will spoil the race's "perfect will of order". I cannot have her do that to my race _and_ to herself!"

"Even if she is a mix, she is still part. She can thus pass down ISO qualities to your children. Either way, it's beneficial for all."

Zinc sighed. "Yes, I am aware of that. Now can we please continue?"

Grid Master laughed. "We don't need to anymore. My scanners come out that the virus presence is negative. She's clean. I think it might take a day or two for her to heal, but she'll wake up soon."

Zinc felt unmovable joy and happiness leak into his core. Finally, all his hard work and determination has put Tara's life back on track. He knew that she was going to survive. She just had to.

~o~o~O~o~o~

Zinc came in every other day to check on Tara, but, after another week, he felt worried.

He asked Grid Master, "Why isn't she waking up?"

He replied, "She's probably still healing. That much heat and pain could bring her mind to be scarred for life. If she wakes up crying, then you know she hasn't fully healed yet.

Zinc looked down at Tara face. Her cheeks were swollen from constant crying, and her body was thin and bony from starvation. Her lips were chapped and crusted, and her eyes were sunken with malnutrition. Tara needed to wake up fast or she was going to die from neglect.

Grid Master was already gone and Zinc, too, was about to leave when he heard a shifting behind him. He froze with his eyes wide open. Could it be? Was she awake? He turned slowly, unsure of what he was to find, hand already grabbing for his disc. When his eyes set on the table, he beamed with undeniable happiness.

Her eyes were open with recognition.

She tried to speak, her mouth opening without sound.

He ran over to her. "Tara, Tara. Can you hear me?"

She smiled up at him and nodded slightly, too weak to really move.

Zinc picked her up and carried her limp form to her room. His excitement turned to worry very quickly, however. She was so much lighter than the last time he picked her up. And with that thought in mind, Zinc carried her carefully in the winding hallway. He feared that if anything hit her, she would break to dust right in his arms.

That would kill him.

Zinc finally got to her room and pounded the button that called her Caregiver. He walked over to her bed and laid her gently onto it. Tara winced with pain and tried to speak again.

He put his finger over her lips and said, "You can't speak right now. Grid Master said one of the last things you'll be able to do is speak. Don't disturb your voice box. If you need to tell someone something, I'll be here to transfer information for you. Your Caregiver should be here any moment."

Tara still tried to speak to him.

Zinc looked down on her and said, "Tara, just don't."

She frowned and nodded, moving slightly to get herself comfortable.

As the silence got worse, Zinc had the feeling that it was probably the right time to tell her. She couldn't say anything now, which would probably be best for him. So he contemplated on telling her half of his secret while peering at her.

She was close to sleeping now, her eyes drooping low.

Zinc poked her slightly, getting her attention, and said, "Don't go to sleep. Eat first."

Tara nodded and tried to sit up. He helped her willingly and said, "Tara, I have to show you something."

Her eyebrows rose slowly, as if to inquire what it was.

Zinc sighed and pulled down his sleeve.

The mark of the ISO showed on his arm.

Tara widened her eyes and pulled down her sleeve and looked at her mark. She started to bring hers closer to his and they glowed as the distance between them lessened. When they touched, an electric volt sent through each of them and Tara passed out. Zinc panicked and tried to wake her gently up again.

"Tara! Tara! Don't die now, please!"

Tara's eyes came open again and Zinc calmed down. He held her up gently so that she wouldn't fall from exhaustion. She looked ready to pass out again when her Caregiver came in with a nice bowl of a broth, a straw, two towels, and an extra pillow and blanket.

She smiled and said, "Glad you're up and running again, Miss Tara! Here's some broth to keep your energy up and two hot towels to keep you warm."

Tara took the soup gratefully but almost dropped it as the bowl was too heavy for her to lift. Zinc, however, caught the bowl just in time and gave Tara a "that's a no-no" look while she looked down in hopelessness and embarrassment.

Zinc looked to the Caregiver. "She'll also need a stand and a spoon just in case she gets too tired to lean forward toward the straw."

The Caregiver nodded and added, "Oh. And here are a few things for you."

Zinc set down the bowl and gratefully took the blanket and pillow. He put them aside and watched the Caregiver leave for the spoon and stand. After a moment of silence, Zinc immediately grabbed the bowl again and put the straw in front of Tara. He waited for her to take a sip when he finally looked at her and realized her traumatic stare.

He knew what she was thinking.

"Tara," he said quietly.

She looked at him.

"I know this is going to be hard for you and I know you're not going to like it either, but, you're not going to be able to do things as you were before. I'm going to have to help you and you have to accept it."

Tara shook her head, tears coming down her face. She tried to speak again.

No sound came out.

She burst into tears then, her eyes not even becoming wet to the full extent due to dehydration. Her body shook violently, her fits of hopelessness and inner anger becoming more prevalent. Suddenly, she grabbed the bowl from him and tried to drink by herself. Zinc came closer to get ready to catch the bowl from her. Tara roughly turned away and shook under the weight of the soup. She came closer to the straw, her bones creaking under the strain, and took a sip for two seconds. Her shaking became a violent seizure and she knew that she wasn't going to be able to hold the bowl all by herself.

That thought crushed her.

For a girl who had been autonomous ever since she could remember, this was a blow not even Trikon could allot.

Zinc grabbed the bowl from Tara and watched her collapse in strain, her breathing raspy and heavy. His sympathy and broken-heartedness overwhelmed him and he put down the bowl and pulled her in for a hug. Tara took it willingly, knowing that Zinc was now the only way she was going to survive.

Zinc said, "Tara, I'm going to feed you," she started pushing him away, "and you can't do anything about it."

She shook her head slowly, but then gradually nodded.

He looked into her eyes for a moment and said, "I need you to be cooperative. I won't tell anyone, nor will I hold this against you. I just need you to swallow. That's it."

She nodded, feeling ashamed of herself, and looked hungrily at the food. Tara scooted closer to Zinc so that it would be less of a strain to get the straw in her mouth, and looked very small compared to Zinc's tall, lean stature.

Zinc brought the straw to her mouth and watched as Tara sucked greedily on it, her hunger taking over. Sometimes she didn't stop to breathe and ended the swallow with a violent cough. Zinc had to discipline her by pulling the straw away to make her inhale.

The Caregiver came back with the stand and the spoon and said, "Here you go! Did you want anything else?"

Zinc shook his head. "No thank you. You've done enough. Good sleep, Maria."

Maria smiled. "Good sleep."

She turned and left while Zinc continued feeding Tara.

After a while, as he had predicted, Tara became too tired to sit up. However, she didn't make it known by sitting back. Instead, she tried to hide it by lying down to breathe and then sitting up to eat. After a while, the pattern made him realize what she was doing and immediately threw away the straw. When he picked up the spoon, Tara shook her head with widened eyes.

Zinc gave her a look and said, "Tara. I need to feed you. Just swallow."

Tara had more tears coming down when she shook her hand (shaped as a "C") in front of her mouth as she tilted her head back. Zinc understood this to be "water" and immediately grabbed the complementary water bottle that was already in her room.

He tilted the bottle to let her drink and then went back to grabbing the spoon. Tara looked ready to kill herself as Zinc put the spoon in her mouth. She felt so small and insignificant that it was as if she was just a grain of sand on the beach. She turned away then, not wanting him to spoon-feed her.

Zinc said, "Tara, you need to eat or else you'll die."

Tara sighed and sat up again. She grabbed the spoon from him and started feeding herself, one spoonful at a time. Zinc watched in adoration at how her stubborn strength willed her to move on. No matter how hard she tried, though, he knew it was inevitable: she wasn't strong enough to even feed herself.

After a while, though, Tara sighed and lied down. She was tired, yes, but she was full. The feeling of being full itself made her happy, and she knew that she wasn't all that weak. The fire had turned her into a survivor. She was not going to let some measly boy spoon-feed her when she can spoon-feed herself.

However, although she felt accomplished, Zinc turned the lights out and all the pride left her.

The darkness was another passageway for the Void. She could feel the cool fingers waiting to grab her, to suck all the life and energy from her mind.

Tara groped around the air for Zinc and found him standing up next to her. She pulled him to her and gripped him like a vise, fearing the evil presence of the Void once more.

Zinc stretched to reach the light and looked at Tara unusually. He found, amazingly, fear in her eyes.

He laughed, "Are you seriously afraid of the dark?"

Tara was still in shock, however, memories swirling in her mind. Zinc frowned and made her face stare into his, concerned about her nervous response. In her roving, anxious eyes, he found real fear. Not just scared or even frightened, but horror and agony in the glimpse of the unknown.

He said, "I wish you could tell me what's wrong."

Her eyes became wet, but they didn't actually cry. She just stared up at him, feeling the cold belittlement of the Void still whispering in her mind's ear.

Zinc said, "What is it?"

He shook her gently, trying to find something in her eyes. "Tell me! Tell me!"

And then, there was a striking pain where the scar from the Grid Master was, and his mind was wide open. He felt something creep in slowly, fingering its way into his mind. It had cold palms and perniciously wiped out any heat from his body and soul. Zinc was paralyzed on the outside, his eyes wide with horror.

Then he heard something.

"The Void...The Void..." the voice whispered.

Zinc recognized the voice as Tara's and looked over at her. Her eyes were glowing again, and her lips were moving with the words even though no sound came out.

"The Void...The Void..."

He realized she was in his mind. The electric volt must have put them on the same inter-wave.

Zinc managed to stutter, "T-Tara!"

She kept going, though, until Zinc found enough strength to hit her on the foot.

Tara screamed and her eyes ceased glowing. Zinc became loose again and he pulled her into a tight hold. Tara had never been so scared in her life. The Void could reach her anywhere. She had a door to her world and It had the key. She was powerless against It and It pounced on her for energy whenever It could.

Zinc said, "What was that?"

Grid Master was suddenly there, the heat calming Tara, and said, "I heard her scream. What happened?"

Tara thought to him: _The Void_.

Zinc asked, "What is the Void?"

Grid Master shuddered as he answered, "It's a bundle of darkness and old grid organisms that are half-dead and half-alive all grown together into one monster. It feeds on itself and other organisms' energy. It is the scariest thing you will ever know."

Zinc squeezed her and said, "I'm sorry, Tara. I got you into this mess and I will always regret it."

Tara thought: _Yeah well, it's not like you did it on purpose._

Zinc jumped. "I heard you. Are you still in my head?"

Tara thought: _What?_

Grid Master laughed. "You guys are on the same inter-wave? How did that happen?"

Zinc said, "I think the Void got into my mind through her."

Grid Master immediately darkened. "If the Void got you as well, he could kill both of you..."

Then a thought hit the Master of the Grid. "It's trying to get rid of ISOs!"


End file.
